1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to electronic circuitry and, more particularly, to integrated logic and latch circuitry.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the modern circuit design of a pipelined microprocessor, clocked latches are the basic building blocks. In a simple circuit implementation of the pipeline microprocessor, for example, inputs are stored at a first clocked latch, processed by a first logic unit, stored again at a second clocked latch, processed by a second logic unit, and stored again at a third clocked latch, which generates outputs. The inputs and outputs can be static or dynamic signals. In general, dynamic implementation achieves a faster speed with higher power consumption.
Power consumption of a large system is one of the most important design factors in the microprocessor design. In a large, complex microprocessor design, static signals are chosen because they consume less power than dynamic implementation. But this choice comes at a price of a slower speed.
Therefore, a need exists for achieving lower power consumption and a faster speed at the same time in a microprocessor design.